  The sixth bad husband was supposed to be quite a model young man until he married the girl who was too good for him. She was too good for any man, so everybody said. Such a pretty girl and a perfect housekeeper. Her mother had been an invalid, and the daughter had always taken care of the home after her mother died. She was a nurse for all the sick people in the neighbourhood; and so unselfish with her The young man felt that he was rushing in where angels fear to tread, when he asked her to be his wife; and he regarded her as something little short of divinity. He was a healthy, human man, and fond of all the comforts of home. When he saw what a perfect housekeeper she was, his heart welled full of gratitude to heaven for his good fortune. Early orphaned, he had boarded from early boyhood. Perhaps, because he had never known a home, he had fallen into some careless ways. He excused himself in this manner when his wife first took him to task for leaving his hat on the centre table. He tried to remember that And again the quiet, but decisive voice of his wife reminded him. Then he sometimes forgot to wipe his feet on the doormat. When he did this, if the day was damp or dusty, he was made to repent it by seeing his wife follow him with a floor-cloth or duster, wiping where his feet had trod. When he rose from a chair and forgot to place it where it had been, against the wall, she set it back herself with a quick, prompt gesture, which made him realise his delinquency. She often mentioned being very tired at night, too tired to go out with him because His cigar ashes were a constant source of annoyance to her. He tried to put them in an ash-tray always; but sometimes they would fall or scatter. She brushed them up immediately. So he fell into the habit of going to the club to smoke. She was a most undemonstrative girl; and what he had taken for maidenly reserve, when he wooed her, proved to be an utter absence of affection in her nature. She believed in duty; that was her great word. One day when he accused her of not really loving him, she asked him to point Had she not kept his home in perfect order? Had she not been economical in expenditures? Had she not kept his name free from blemish? Had she not—but at this juncture he went out and slammed the door. And as he went he quoted from Kipling, saying: 'And now I know that she never will know, and never will understand.' One day he fell ill with a hard cold; and then indeed she became the devoted wife. A better nurse never lived. She was simply delightful, while he was confined to the house as her patient. But the moment he was up and out she became the nagging woman, with a mania for order, economy, and neatness; and all her tenderness and sweetness vanished into the acrid and severe manner of the thrifty housewife. She was a nurse and missionary and housekeeper—not a wife. And he was simply starving for love, for companionship, for good fellowship, for freedom, for happiness. She was unable to see or understand his needs, beyond those of an orderly house, and a bank account which was not overdrawn. She was utterly devoid of the least touch of coquetry. Her severe, neat manner of dress indicated her temperament. One day he complimented the appearance 'I think her type very loud and tasteless,' his wife said coldly. 'She is the kind of girl who would run her husband into debt without a qualm of conscience, in order to gratify her whims. But I begin to think that is the type of woman a man admires.' All her judgments were severe. She had no mercy for any human frailty. A woman of that nature, who is perpetually nagging a man for leaving a book in the hammock, a hat on a table, cigar ashes on the floor, or a chair out of place, and who is cold and undemonstrative in her disposition, When Cupid went forth from this home the man went also. And the world said: 'What a brute to desert that model woman! Such a housekeeper! Such a manager! And to think how she nursed him whenever he was sick!' Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty ELLA WHEELER WILCOX PROSE VOLUMES NEW THOUGHT COMMON SENSE Crown 8vo, pp. 276.Portrait.Cloth gilt, gilt top,
ARE YOU ALIVE? Crown 8vo.Cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. net. A Companion Volume to 'New Thought Common Sense,'
THE DIARY OF A FAITHLESS HUSBAND F'cap. 8vo.Illustrated.Cloth gilt, gilt top, 1s. net.
AN AMBITIOUS MAN. A Romance Crown 8vo, pp. 212.Cloth, with Illustrated Side Design, A WOMAN'S LETTERS Crown 8vo, pp. 300.Cloth gilt, 4s. 6d. net.
POEMS OF PEACE POEMS OF LOVE POEMS OF INSPIRATION GEMS FROM WILCOX No. 1—Faith. Daintily Produced.Size 4 in. by 2½ in.New Portrait, Beautifully Embossed Cameo Design on Japanese Vellum Velvet Calf, Artistic Side Design, 1s. net each.Padded ONE HUNDRED POEMS Size 6 in. by 4 in., pp. 128.Portrait. Cloth, gilt top, coloured endpaper, 1s. net. Velvet Calf, Artistic Side Design, gilt top, with coloured CHOICE SELECTIONS FOR SCHOOLS Edited by Rev. A. A. C. N. Vawdrey. F'cap. 8vo.Cloth, 1s. net. GREAT THOUGHTS FOR EACH A New Wilcox Birthday Book Compiled and Edited at the Author's request by
Cloth, gilt edges, 2s. 6d. net.Velvet Persian, The Fashionable Autograph Book THE 'ELLA WHEELER WILCOX' BIRTHDAY Size 9 in. by 6 in.A page for each day.Printed on Cloth, gilt edges, 5s. net.Also charmingly bound in POEMS OF LOVE. A Choice Selection
Cloth gilt, with Artistic Side Design, 2s. 6d. net. THE LOVE SONNETS OF ABELARD
Lambskin, 4s. 6d. net.Also bound in Padded Levant. 'The World Beautiful' Library Uniformly bound in red or white buckram, gilt, gilt top. Price 3s. 6d. each.
GAY'S SHILLING LIBRARY Each Volume Crown 8vo, Cloth, with attractive wrapper
Others in Preparation TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact. |
|
